ByHumberto FontovaAmong the throng of Clintonregime retreads recruited for the Obama administration we find GregoryCraig. Craig served as Obama's advisor on Latin American during thecampaign, and was appointed last week as chief White House Counsel.

TheMSM has mentioned Craig's role as Bill Clinton's impeachment lawyer,but mostly has omitted mention of Craig's role as chief facilitator forFidel Castro's shanghaiing of Elian Gonzalez.

OfficiallyCraig served as attorney for Elian's father, Juan Miguel Gonzalez. Thishumble man worked as a hotel doorman in a nation where the averagemonthly salary is $16. The high-rolling Gregory Craig worked forWashington D.C.'s elite firm, Williams & Connolly, one of America'shighest-priced law firms.

Uponaccepting the case, Gregory Craig had flown to Cuba for a meeting withFidel Castro. Craig's remuneration, we learned shortly after hisreturn, came from a "voluntary fund" set up by the United MethodistBoard of Church and Society and "administered" by the National Councilof Churches. The same reporters and pundits, who routinely erupt withsnide snorts midway through any statement by a Republican presssecretary, reported this item with a straight face.

Butthen, this media also reports that Castro's Cuba provides free andexquisite health-care. And the explanation of Craig's funding issuedfrom the same source.

Inan interview with Tim Russert on June 6, 2000, Gregory Craig explainedhis motivation for accepting the case: "What I want to do is to setJuan Miguel free. I want the father to make a decision uncoerced fromHavana, uncoerced from Miami, uncoerced by the press, independently andfreely to make a decision where and how he wants to raise his family.That's all I'm concerned about."

Unfortunatelyfor Mr. Craig we have an eyewitness to his definition of "uncoercion."During the taping of Dan Rather's 60 Minutes interview with Juan MiguelGonzalez in April 2000,Pedro Porro served as Rather's in-studiotranslator. Dan would ask the question in English into Porro's earpieceand Porro would translate it into Spanish for Elian's heavily guardedfather.

"JuanMiguel was never completely alone," says Pedro Porro. "He never smiled.His eyes kept shifting back and forth. It was obvious to me that he wasunder coercion. He was always surrounded by security agents from theCuban Interest Section, as they called it. When these agents left himalone for a few seconds, Gregory Craig himself would be hovering overJuan Miguel."

Yes,Gregory Craig had led the Juan Miguel/Cuban-Security entourage into thestudio, then presided over the interview as a movie director. "Most ofthe questions Dan Rather was asking Elian's father during that 60Minutes interview were being handed to him by Gregory Craig," saysPedro Porro. "It was obvious that Greg Craig and Dan Rather where onvery friendly terms. They were joshing and bantering back and forth, asJuan Miguel sat there petrified. Craig was stage-managing the wholething. The taping would stop and Craig would walk over to Dan, hand hima little slip of paper, say something into his ear. Then Rather wouldread straight from the paper."

"Atone point Craig stopped the taping almost like a movie directoryelling, 'Cut!' I was confused for a moment, says Porro, "until GregCraig complained that Juan Miguel's answers were not coming across fromhis translator with "sufficient emotion." "So Dan Rather shuteverything down for a while and some of the crew drove to a dramaschool in New York. They hired a dramatic actor to act as a translator,and brought him back."

Okay roll 'em!

"Iprobably should have walked out," says Porro. "But I'd been hired byCBS in good faith and I didn't know exactly how the interview would beedited -- how it would come across on the screen. I mighta known, butyou never know these things play out until you actually see it."

Aweek later Reno's INS maced, kicked, stomped, gun-butted andtear-gassed their way into Lazaro Gonzalez's house. Heavily armed INSagents wrenched a bawling 6-year-old child from his family atmachine-gun point, and bundled him off to a Stalinist nation (againsthis father's true wishes.) They left 102 people injured, someseriously. Many of the injured were ladies who had brandished dangerousweapons. These weapons were rosaries. No "60 Minutes" "investigativereport" on that however.

The New York Times' incomparable Thomas Friedmancould not contain himself: "Yup, I gotta confess, that now-famouspicture of a U.S. marshal in Miami pointing an automatic weapon ...warmed my heart."

Imaginegetting a major TV network to act as unpaid aides, consultants, propsand publicists for your case -- and during prime time. To cap it all,Gregory Craig at the time worked for the law firm Williams &Connolly -- that also represented CBS.

Asmentioned, upon accepting the case, Gregory Craig had flown to Cuba toconfer with "El Lider Maximo" (translates almost exactly to Führer inGerman). To effectively stage-manage the boy's shanghaiing, Craigexplained to Castro, he needed Juan Miguel in the U.S. According tomost accounts, Castro balked at this. No plantation owner likes hisslaves traveling (unescorted) outside his plantation. Plus, Castro wasno doubt privy to Juan Miguel's early communications with his Miamicousins, thanking them profusely and saying he'd be soon make his ownescape and join Elian.

Soit took a little doing, but Craig finally prevailed -- that Castro's"escorts" would constantly accompany Juan Miguel in the U.S. (aswitnessed by Pedro Porro) was probably the gist of the deal with Craig.

Soin effect, the man who will serve as chief White House Counsel, onceagreed to function as a fully deputized agent for a Stalinist regime'sKGB-trained secret police.

Porro'srevelations appeared in a documentary by Cuban-American filmmakerAgustin Blazquez titled "The Rats Below." After interviewing PedroPorro for my book, Fidel: Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant, this writer was asked to confront Craig with the accusations during a radio debate on a show by Accuracy In Media.

"You bet," I replied.

ButCraig responded in print that my charges were unsound. Porro, herelated, had turned out to be a very poor translator, barely knowingthe English language, and obviously didn't understand what was goingon.

Porrohas lived in the U.S. for 45 years (outside of Miami), earned twocollege degrees from major U.S. universities and served for years asthe U.S. Treasury Department's head architect. True, his profession didnot require quite the glibness of Craig's. But he speaks betterEnglish, I suspect, than 70% of the native born.

"Funnyto hear I was a lousy translator five years after the translation!"laughed Pedro when I conveyed Craig's accusation." CBS, which hired mefor the job, complimented me on it and paid the entire fee withoutcomplaint."

Needless to say, no debate took place during the Accuracy In Media show. Craig was a no-show.

Humberto Fontova is the author of four books including Exposing the Real Che Guevara. visit hfontova.com